August 26, 2014

The following is another teaser from the book, which will most likely be the last, as we are literally in the final stages of publishing. The book should be set free into the world within the next few weeks.

膠艾湯

Jiāo Ài Tāng

Donkey-Hide
Gelatin and Mugwort Decoction

治婦人有漏下者，有半產後因續下血都不絕者，有妊娠下血者，假令妊娠腹中痛，為胞阻，以此湯主之。

A treatment for women
with [either] spotting, incessant blood descent following late miscarriage, or
blood descent in pregnancy. If [there is] abdominal pain in pregnancy, [then]
this is uterine obstruction, and this decoction rules it.

乾地黃（六兩）川芎阿膠甘草（各二兩）艾葉當歸（各三兩）芍藥（四兩）

gān dì huáng

乾地黃

18g

chuān xiōng

川芎

6g

ē jiāo

阿膠

6g

gān cǎo

甘草

6g

ài yè

艾葉

9g

dāng guī

當歸

9g

sháo yào

芍藥

12g

上七味，以水五升、清酒三升，合煮取三升，去滓，內膠令消盡，溫服一升，日三服，不差更作。

Simmer the seven
ingredients above in 1,000ml of water with 600ml of clear wine, until reduced
to 600ml. Remove the dregs, and dissolve the ē jiāo in the decoction. Take 200ml warm, three doses per day, and
repeat if [the condition] fails to resolve.

Song 歌曰:

妊娠腹滿阻胎胞，名曰胞阻，以胞中氣血虛寒，而阻其化育也。二兩芎藭草與膠，歸艾各三芍四兩，地黃六兩去枝梢。

Abdominal fullness in pregnancy with fetal
obstruction, this is called fetal obstruction, which is the result of qì and blood
vacuity with cold, which hinders the growth and development of the fetus.
Six grams chuānxiōng*, gān cǎo, and ē
jiāo, nine grams each of dāng guī
and ài yè, twelve of sháo yào, and eighteen of dì huáng eliminates the tip of the
branch.

Chuān xiōng,
sháo yào, and dì huáng are blood-supplementing
medicinals. Blood is not generated on its own, but is engendered from water and
grains in yángmíng therefore, gān cǎo
is used to supplement [yángmíng]. Ē jiāo
enriches the sea of blood, and is a very important medicinal for treating
various pregnancy related diseases. Ài yè
warms the uterus, and is a specific medicinal to regulate menstruation and calm
the fetus. This is a divine formula, which unites juéyīn, shàoyīn and yángmíng,
and simultaneously treats the thoroughfare and controlling vessel. In later
times, people have removed the gān cǎo,
ē jiāo and ái yé, renaming it Sì Wù Tāng,
making this formula stiff, bound and ineffective!

*Although the Chinese above says xiōng qiáng芎藭, I
have opted to translate this medicinal using its alternate, more common name chuān xiōng 川芎, and will appear as such in the remainder of the
text.